Victor Cruz Hit: How Dirty was Ryan Clark's Play?

Anyone who has been watching football for more than two years knows that for a long time, the game more or less centered around big hits. Sure, as of late there has been a noticeable shift towards putting emphasis on quarterback play. But before that, tough defenses were just as big a part of the game as anything that happened on offense.

During Sunday’s highly anticipated showdown between the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, Victor Cruz got absolutely destroyed by Ryan Clark.

Was that a totally unnecessary move by Clark? Yes. Would we have deemed it dirty ten years ago, just like we’re doing now? Yes. But would it have been looked upon with as much disdain then as it will be today? Probably not.